


The Proof is in the Feathers

by shiro_tora



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Action/Adventure, Bonding, But Not Crack, Father-Son Relationship, How Do I Tag, Kinda goofy, but i like it, first fic, i have no idea what im doing, the title sucks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-05-16 16:30:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14814881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiro_tora/pseuds/shiro_tora
Summary: Set in some nebulous time between ESB and RotJ.After an uninvited guest foils Vader's plan to catch Luke, the two wind up on a mostly uninhabited planet and Luke is a ball of light and sunshine and is fascinated with life. Really they are both desert boys at heart.Also some slight angst. Maybe mentions of some body horror stuff, because cyborg dad. Will add appropriate tags as continues. Please enjoy.





	1. Foiled Plans

**Author's Note:**

> Please enjoy. This is my first so flames or advice or anything will be totally awesome. This is also un-beta'd and I tried to proof read and yeah.  
> Also a HUGE thanks to @flaminganakin and @warrior-of-symbolica on tumblr for encouraging me to write this.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, movies'etc. Lucas does. I own socks though! Thats something.....

The Proof is in the Feathers

Foiled Plans

 

The Galactic Empire had many resources at it’s disposal both within the core and throughout the rest of the galaxy, particularly within it’s spheres of influence. All of those resources acted to the Emperors will, and all of them reported in one way or another directly to said Emperor by means of official reports or his own secret agents. There was nothing that occurred in the Imperial Machine that Sheev Palpatine did not know.

 

This of course posed particular obstacles for one who wished to circumvent said will, and who wished to keep this circumventing under the Emperor’s radar. A nigh impossible task for anyone without an obscene amount of influence themselves and the funds to ensure the continued loyalty of those involved; or else the power to dispose of them afterwards.

 

Or both.

 

Darth Vader, the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy was one such man.

 

The Emperor had his spies. They spied on Vader endlessly it seemed, from the Royal Red Guard in his castle on Mustafar to moles on his own ship that were untouchable lest there be consequences.

 

Vader for most of his service to the Empire had found no need for his own network of spies, the ISB proving mostly efficient for his task of hunting down scattered Jedi and quelling discontent before it could rise into full-on conflicts. However, the ISB reported directly to the ruler of all known space, which posed a problem. Recent discoveries had pushed him to find a way to gather information and act without Palpatine knowing, specifically finding information about a certain Luke Skywalker.

 

He had no intention of his Master finding out about his son yet, so he had meticulously tracked down agents, mercenaries and other such rabble that specifically acted on an individual basis, whose services were loyal to those proposing the largest untraceable sum; or offered in favor of not getting their neck snapped in two by a hulking black spectre of Death itself. He had specifically planted supposed deserters into the rebellion with orders to seek out Skywalker and maintain constant communication with Vader, relaying a wide array of details from his activities in the rebellion and who he interacted with to his eating habits and medical condition. The order to spare no detail was taken very seriously with imminent threat to their lives should they lag in their duty.

 

Vader’s agents had recently reported that there was a newly founded rebel outpost on a poor planet in the outer mid-rim, just where the Empires guidance waned and local upstarts trying to take on the galaxy could sway the minds of lesser beings into acts of disorder. Reports indicated that Skywalker had been chosen specifically to act as emissary for the rebel council and was to make it to the system in two standard cycles.

 

The report aslo stated that the boy was chosen for the mission because of his “desire to see green things that didn’t stink like a Hutt, please Senator Mothma send me I won’t let you down and think of all the trees and the WATER and the creatures that live there-“

 

Irrelevant.

 

The boy would be accompanied by a paltry few fighters leaving him open to attack and capture. Their desire to avoid the notice of the Imperials would coincidentally be their undoing.

 

The sneering voice in the back of Vader’s mind opposed the use of such information in order to meet such a pitiful and _emotional_ goal; it should be used to crush the enemies of the all-mighty Empire.

 

He vainly tried to ignore it.

 

The order was given to take the Executor into hyperspace on course for the system, ETA approximately 4 standard cycles; 2 ahead of the rebels’ inferior hyperdrives. Plenty of time to set an ambush if Vader made sure to conceal his presence from child and keep his ship out of scanner range of the T-65’s.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 

 

Luke sat in his cockpit just out of orbit over the planet, waiting for his intel to match up with the data on the readouts. His imagination was starting to get the better of him picturing what sorts of plant and animal life he would find on the lush, sparsely inhabited green orb floating before him. The bogs of Dagobah, while not the sprawling endless wastes of Tattooine, left much to be desired in the way of pleasant scenery and atmosphere. He couldn’t wait until he and his wingmen made planetfall.

 

That is if their informant ever decided to show up. They were supposed to meet them an hour ago to bring Luke and his mates down to the hidden outpost the new rebels in the system had managed to set up out of the Empires sight. But there had been no word of their escort, and with no idea where to start looking, Luke and the other two pilots were left hanging in vacuum.

 

Just when Luke’s mind had started coming up with water-dwelling mossy vine-covered Womp Rats that were not at all vicious and liked to eat leaves and not people, a nudge from the Force had him turn his ship port and switch on the comm to alert his companions of incoming.

 

Out of the inky blackness of space two fighters, looking to be some sort of Incom and surprisingly like their X-wings, honed in fast on their position and began spitting red blaster-fire at the trio of rebels.

 

“WOAH! I don’t think those guys are ours!”, That was Arin, one of the newer pilots being put through her paces on this mission.

“Definitely not! Evasive maneuvers and regroup on me for pursuit once they break formation.” Luke’s head was abuzz with possible explanations for the sudden attack; a double agent in the rebellion, last minute change of heart, pirates taking advantage of the lack of Imperial presence and looking for easy prey.

 

Just as the rebels came together for a counter attack, laser-fire came from their 120, taking out the third member of their party in a horrifying blast and static scream. Two heavy fighters came to join their comrades in taking down Luke and his mate, firing concussion missiles with deadly aim.

 

“BREAK!”

 

Unsure which one of them yelled it first, Luke and Arin spun away from each other in a desperate attempt to lose the missiles. Sinking into the Force and letting it guide his movements, Luke barely evaded the blaster fire and tried to draw the attention of one of the light-fighters after Arin, his X-wing spitting out angry return fire.

 

This wasn’t looking good.

 

Just as he heard enemy lock from his tracker, green peals of unknown cannon fire blasted the sublight right off the heavy-fighter chasing him, allowing him to watch as Arin’s fighter blew apart in flaming metal as the two concussives found their mark in her own engines. He felt the loss as a physical pain; two good people lost today from an enemy they didn’t even know.

 

This was supposed to be an easy mission.

 

Three remaining hostile fighters against Luke’s X-wing and… an unfortunately familiar TIE fighter. Ok, so three, possibly four hostile fighters against one.

 

Sometimes Luke wondered if the Force really wanted him to live or if it was just wishful thinking.

 

‘ _LUKE! Do not let your guard down!_ ’ His Father’s strained voice cut through the Force to his thoughts. He was so immersed he hadn’t thought to shield his mind; he was more concerned for his life at the moment.

 

Luke opened his comm signal as he tried to stay out of the way of fire, “Father!? Not that I don’t appreciate the help, but what are _you_ doing here? And who are these sleemos?”

 

The TIE screamed past him, fending off the two swift ships as Luke circled around trying to clip the heavy.

 

“The Rihxyrk and lighter Kihraxz are often seen in use by the Black Sun, a criminal organization. As for my intentions, I believe you already know what those are; the interference however was unexpected.”

 

“Ok, but why are they-“

 

“Luke FOCUS.”

 

He was trying. But now the remaining lights, Kihraxz’s supposedly, were closing on him. The one on his port let off a hail of fire just as the other let loose concussives. The Force screamed in warning and Luke jerked desperately on the stick. He felt a terrible impact with his snub, heard ion engines screaming, and saw bursts of fire all while spinning nauseatingly as the planet drew closer and closer.

 

His fighter hit atmosphere, bucked like an angry bantha, and Luke’s vision whited out as his nose burned from acrid electrical smoke.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 

**Notes:**

Well. That’s a thing.

Now, I haven’t written anything since high-school, when I would desperately try to stay sane by scribbling on sheets of loose-leaf. I don’t remember a lick of English class, with sentence structures and fragments and paragraphs. I DID however do a tiny bit of digging on Wookie for some things.

The characters will seem OOC I’m sure because what even is characterization am I right aha ha ha ha…

Also, I meant to write this ages ago. I had the idea, literally like just a thought. Then decided I might try my hand a writing it. Well, my stupid brain hasn’t wanted to co-operate. STILL doesn’t. So I have no idea when another chapter may be up, or when this is ending or…yeah. I also apologize for being apologetic, I know that gets old quickly but again, first time lol. (Ok I’ll shut up now)

SO! Any sort of input is welcome/desperately needed, if anyone even ever reads this.


	2. Survival of the Fittest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke and Vader meet up, take stock of the situation and start to work on a solution to their problem. Also, the local wildlife likes Luke Skywalker way too much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a bit over fond of using italics and bold and such to put emphasis on words, to make them sound like they do in my head. It’s probably annoying, but I feel the energy in a person’s voice, the emphasis, has to be put in the right place to properly convey what they’re feeling. Please tell me if it’s annoying. (‘Also Force thought exchange looks like this.’) And again, there is no Beta, just my uncensored word-vomit. I apologize. Enjoy.

The Proof is in the Feathers

Chapter 2

Survival of the Fittest

 

 

Burning electronics and hot pain woke Luke to the surprising fact that he was actually still alive.

 

Shaking his head to try and clear his foggy mind was at once a good and bad idea; it hurt but the pain helped clear his head. Choking on acrid smoke Luke desperately reached for the emergency release for the crumpled cockpit canopy of his downed X-Wing, shoving at it with all the strength he could manage. He wrenched himself out of the warped pilot seat and reached for his pack sitting behind, grunting in pain as his scrapped and burned arms strained, his trapped leg coming free with a painful effort.

 

The young rebel tumbled out of the broken snub fighter and landed in a painful heap on hard tree roots and hot scraps of metal. He lay simply breathing for a long moment as the paralysing pain edged off into a manageable ache, watching large fronds wave around him and the hazy twinkling sunlight filter down through a high above tree canopy. Bugs flitted around and creatures flew haphazardly, calling in alarm at the disturbance his crash had made in their peaceful home.

 

Force, it was so _green_ here! And not the grungy green of Dagobah, but brightly vibrant and shimmering.

 

Luke gingerly sat up and tore his attention away from the surroundings to take stock of his body. His upper arms were scraped raw from his impact with the crushed canopy, while the lower were lightly burnt from the control panel getting fried, and though his leg had been twisted up a bit in the crash it didn’t hurt too badly. The most pain was coming from his side, not his ribs he didn’t think, as his breathing was mostly unhindered, but it throbbed nonetheless, not to mention the large growing blue bruise. So maybe bruised but not broken ribs and **definitely** a pulled muscle in there somewhere; thankfully his flight suit seemed to have protected him form more severe damage.

 

All in all Luke was in good shape for having been crashed into in the middle of a space battle by a rouge TIE fighter and sent careening onto an unknown planet.

 

“Come to think of it, where’s Vader?” Luke thought aloud; he was positive he had heard missile blasts and felt Vader’s dark, burning presence unnervingly close just before his memory of the incident cut out. “Maybe he crashed here too. Only one way to find out I guess.” Luke closed his eyes, focused past his body, past the ache and outwards into the world around him as Yoda had taught him.

 

Instantly he was overwhelmed by a glowing mini galaxy of life; there really were so many creatures and plants! So many living things here that he could hardly stand to keep his focus, but he had to know if Vader was here too, so he honed in on his memory of the Dark Lord’s presence, burning blindingly but in black light, almost like an invert sun. Not dark necessarily, and not empty, but also not cold in the traditional sense. A not-heat chill that burned like fire all the same…

 

There! Off in the distance, roughly to Luke’s 45, not terribly far off, Vader’s burning presence could be seen-felt amidst all the other bright Force signatures. It was burning, but not at it’s usually intensity. Was the man unconscious? Was he hurt? Luke tried to feel along the connection he knew he shared with the Sith and only sensed a sort of blurred wall…

 

Well…

 

Luke had no intention of getting captured at any rate, but the way his X-Wing looked right now, he had no way of getting off this planet. The snub’s comm panel was certainly fried, and his personal comm was only capable of short range, enough that he could have called his wingmates for help.

 

This was supposed to be a milk-run mission. People weren’t supposed to die.

 

After taking a short moment to mourn the dead, Luke stood up and shucked his brightly coloured flight suit, shouldered his pack carefully and looked off through the trees in the direction of Vader and his crashed fighter. “Well, there’s only one option left now. Maybe I can use his wreckage to try and amplify my signal to reach Command and send some help.”

 

He wasn’t checking on a possibly injured and unconscious Sith Lord who most definitely didn’t need his help. He was going to try to remain inconspicuous and sift through the wreckage and comm in help and not get captured and hopefully remain hidden among all the other Force signatures.

 

Luke rubbed his wrist, resolutely **did not** think about it and set off.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 

 

In a small relative clearing amidst felled trees and broken rock, Darth Vader glared up at the smoldering wreckage of his TIE/Advanced; he had just further modified its hyperdrive capacitor, which was currently spitting green flames. The fighter was certainly not getting off the ground in its current state, and without proper tools he could not adequately repair it’s flight systems.

 

Or it’s comm systems for that matter. Even if he **did** have the necessary tools he doubted he could make the repairs himself. Somewhere along his crash into the planet’s surface his right arm had gotten wedged between the flight controls and a jutting piece of metal. Though the suit had sufficiently sealed the breach in the sterile life-support environment, his prosthetic had sustained damage to the motor-sensory relay, causing the entire limb to tingle and occasionally twitch irritatingly.

 

With a growl that likely startled the surrounding fauna further, Vader turned his attention to the cause of his current situation. The boy was hardly inconspicuous, their tentative Force bond aside; he was a practical _beacon_ of light, glowing so brightly it burned to focus too intensely on him. Vader was able to get a rough estimate as to the rebel pilots’ location, however, and began the trek towards Luke’s location, heedless of the plant life he crushed under his heavy armoured boots.

 

Trouble seemed to follow a Skywalker like they followed the stars in the sky.

 

After some time, in which Vader has focused his ever present pain and ire towards plans to punish whoever had interfered in his attempt to capture the boy, the Sith found the burning presence had grown closer; though almost as soon as he had made the observation, said presence wavered and shimmered faintly. It was akin to looking at a sun through water, still blinding bright but refracted and scattered.

 

Vader snorted in derisive amusement; was the boy actually attempting to hide his Force presence from him? He was doing a terrible job, doing little more that scattering his presence, not dimming it. Though Vader supposed it wasn’t the boys fault he was so glaringly obvious…

 

Had the presence stopped moving closer to him?

 

Vader carefully reached along their connection and sent out a tentative call, ‘ _Luke?_ ’ The boys’ Force signature seemed to shiver and twitch, then he felt the Lukes’ reply, dimmed somewhat in defeat.

 

‘ _You can tell I’m here can’t you?_ ’ The child grudgingly seemed to acknowledge that he wasn’t hiding his presence very well, and seemed less than enthused at Vader’s contact.

 

‘ _Yes young one. I am coming to your location. Are you injured?_ ’

 

‘ _No, are you? I’m just - hang on._ ’ Vader could hear rustling footsteps up ahead, and sure enough a ragged and wounded and **bright** Luke Skywalker tumbled out of some particularly thick brush, a vine wrapped around his thigh and some sort of beetle in his hair. He was missing his flight suit, carried what looked to be a mostly empty survival pack over his shoulder and had a limp to his right step and a fine sheen of sweat.

 

Vader crossed his arms, briefly amused before he crushed the intruding feeling, displeasure rising into his voice, “You claimed to be unharmed, child. You certainly are **not** unharmed. Lying to me is useless,” he made a surface temperature scan with the helmet and frowned slightly at the reading.

 

“I’m fine, just some scrapes, nothing needing attention.” Luke brushed something out of his hair, grabbed the offending green appendage wrapped uncomfortably high up his leg and threw it to the ground. “Look, do you have a way off this planet? Are your comms working?”

 

The boy seemed surprising unconcerned with the intentions of the large armoured giant of a Sith in front of him, Vader noted with some disapproval. “Unfortunately they were damaged beyond repair in the crash, as were yours it would seem.”

 

Now that he had settled somewhat, Luke was fairly spinning in circles trying to take in everything at once; first the abundance of green leaves rustling in the humid breeze, then the bugs crawling at his feet, and next were the cries of creatures off in the distance. Everything was so **alive**! Nothing at all like Tattooine, just as he was hoping; the past few months of running from the Empire on various worlds having done nothing to temper his curiosity about the wonders of the galaxy.

 

Luke turned to the armoured man, “So what do you know about this place? It’s amazing, and everything is so bright in the force.” There were so many little lives it was difficult for Luke to pin-point any one signature.

 

“The records in the Galactic Registry and the Republic Historical Database were somewhat lacking. The planet is relatively small and only recently discovered, largely unsettled, and over-grown with plant life which is sustained by the temperate climate and Type 1 breathable atmosphere. It’s day cycle is 18 standard hours long and the population, while unknown, is believed to-“

 

“Ok ok, so you have statistics; anything about it’s plants and animals? Are there large dangerous predators? Or how about the names or species, you know, is there any water-dwelling Womp Rats that eat grass and stuff? Maybe nice and docile and not at all vicious…why are you looking at me like that?”

 

Vader just stared blankly down at Luke, watching as the boy fidgeted in the silence. “I know the information pertinent to your mission young one, not unnecessary details such as you are asking for.”

 

That made Luke pause, and he glanced side-long at Vader, his suspicion beginning to rise as he went over the words again in his head. “ _My_ mission, and not yours. What do you know of my mission, and how did you know to find me here?”

 

Vader’s finger made it’s long awaited appearance at the rebels questions, “You have been letting your guard down, child. You should have immediately tried to ply such information as soon as I found you, rather than gawking at your surroundings. Had I wished you any harm I easily could have achieved it; never turn your back to an enemy.”

 

The young pilot’s features settled into blank stare as he turned to face Vader fully. “Is that what we are then; enemies?”

 

Vader’s arm slowly returned to his side as he considered Luke’s surprising unwillingness to fight him; though he desired the boys’ power at his side in plotting a coup against the Emperor, he did not wish to antagonize Luke. In truth, the distance of time from his initial burning **need** to have the child, his ~~(and her)~~ flesh and blood acting as his will and training under him, had given Vader ample time to consider his options. In the heat of his rage at the Emperor’s betrayal he had sought to use that rage and pain to turn Luke, until the boy’s despair finally allowed the Dark purchase on his heart and Luke gave in to the unlimited power finally made known to him. He would have broken him.

 

As he had been broken…

 

That long ago pain still lived in Vader’s soul and he twisted it into power through the Dark Side at will. However, he did not wish that agonizing fate for his child, and no matter how he tried to crush such pitiful thoughts, he knew he could not cause enough harm to Luke to bring about his Fall. His attempt at Bespin had been…rashly executed, although effective. The lure of his friends’ aching throb in the Force had brought the boy nearly into Vader’s hands, at the price of maiming and almost ultimately bringing about Luke’s own death.

 

No. He would not harm the child again.

 

Vader, wary of spooking Luke lest he attempt to make an escape, inclined his helm, accepting the admonition. He looked to the boy’s hand as it strayed closer to the blaster at his hip. “No, child. We are not enemies here this day. We need not be adversaries at all, you could come willingly and-“

 

“No.” A simple statement that belied the blinding will of steel Vader could feel in the Force. There would be no lee-way on this matter at the moment; perhaps after some time alone with the boy might he convince Luke.

 

Vader turned from the other as he scanned through the atmospheric read-out from his helmet. “Very well, I will not press the issue. There are more immediate concerns requiring attention, at any rate. There is a storm incoming, and though the atmosphere is rather forgiving, you are injured and without food and shelter. Temperature fluctuations are not out of the ordinary on such planets. We shall remedy the situation before your condition worsens.”

 

With that declaration, the armoured Sith turned towards what he could sense as the relative direction of a sort of stream and began walking through the brush unimpeded, leaving Luke standing there looking at the him oddly. Until a particularly large spiked beetle decided Luke’s hair looked like the perfect place to make a landing. Brushing it off he wandered after Vader, walking in the path he was demolishing through the foliage with his great heavy strides.

 

Taking care not to move too quickly lest he upset his wounds, Luke came up behind Vader, watching the man’s back as he weaved around the giant trees and various rocky outcroppings, “So you’re worried about my well-being than? Why do I find that a little hard to believe, coming from the Emperor’s right hand.” Luke put a hand to the throbbing bruise at his side and winced a bit at it’s heat.

 

Vader rounded on the rebel, raising a finger to point severely at Luke to emphasise the point, though the effect was diminished somewhat as unbeknownst to him his cloak had caught on some branches when he turned and clung to the bush, “You are a potentially valuable asset to the Empire and one of the strongest Force users to come about in centuries. You have proven yourself a competent commander and excellent pilot; your well-being is of great import to others as well as myself.” His gaze lowered to the ragged tears in Luke’s shirt, to the raw oozing skin beneath. He turned and continued his path to their destination. “And it is also of **no** import at all to some, as evidenced by the attempt on your life earlier.”

 

The attack irked Vader, sparking smoldering embers down in his ragged chest that were ready to flare into outright rage at provocation, especially as he had some ideas about just **who** had made the attempt to bring down the young rebel. He would have to take measures at a later date to help ensure the boy’s continued existence, perhaps some more plants into the Alliance’s ranks. And he would have to take a look into what that scheming lizard Xizor had been up to as of late…

 

“Yeah yeah, I’m a valuable resource, can’t lose the great hero of the rebellion, killer of millions and giver of hope to all.” Luke’s words came out bitter, giving a hint as to his opinion of the supposed praise. All he kept hearing on base was how everyone was expecting him to win them this war against the Empire, how he was a hero for destroying a space station with millions of people onboard, innocent or no. How he was needed on this mission or that. He loved his friends dearly, but he felt torn in half sometimes.

 

Vader, having caught some of Luke’s feelings through the Force, if not outright thoughts with how strongly he was projecting (and how _unshielded his mind was damn you Obi-Wan_ ), made a displeased sound echoing the young man’s own feelings. “Their demands on you contradict their disregard for your day to day welfare and health, young one. You have little time for rest and recuperation before they send you on yet another fruitless endeavor still exhausted from the previous.”

 

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Luke peered suspiciously at Vader’s back, going over the other’s words. “Yeah, I know. But how do **you**?” He didn’t like where that thought process went…

 

“Surely you did not expect me not to keep tabs on you.”

 

“What? How? Is there agents infiltrating the Alliance? Is there Imperial spies?!” Luke’s hackles rose at the thought of Imperials in the rebellion sending off information about their locations and who they have been contacting. Their plans, their supplies, his friends lives, everything could be jeopardized.

 

But Vader only held up a hand at the rebels panicked thoughts. “Peace, Luke. I can assure you that while there may indeed be other spies within your ranks, **I** did not put them there. My agents are only ordered to gather information…not essential to the Empire.” At least not essential to the immediate outcome of the war that is.

 

Luke, though still wary of the validity of the Sith’s word, couldn’t sense any deception in what he had said. “Alright…and I suppose you won’t fill me in on what that information is, even though it’s not important?”

 

Stopping to reach out again with the Force to ensure they were still heading in the proper direction to bring them to the water source, Vader remained silent, simply turning to the left and heading off again, heedless to the various creatures disturbed by his trek through their homes.

 

Following after the black giant with a sigh, Luke carefully adjusted his pack and muttered to himself, “Well that’s a no than.” He didn’t notice the smoothing brush against his rough disappointed feelings, occupied by the rough landscape and aching wounds as he was.

 

After a solid chuck of time, in which Luke paused intermittently to rest and ogle at his surroundings, the sound of trickling water could be heard over the rustling of leaves and din of animals. Pushing aside a group of thick entangled vines, the two came upon a small stream emerging from a large moss-covered rock face that was the foundation of a large sloping hill further up through the trees.

 

Turning to Luke, Vader held out his hand. “Your canteen. We will use it first to tend your wounds, then fill it. Once that is seen to we must find you shelter.”

 

Luke hesitantly unhooked the small metal vessel from his belt. “I can look after myself you know, I’ve done this before. Besides, that water might be contaminated, not all water is safe.” He had learned that the hard way when he had tried to wash a small cut he got on another mission for the Alliance, and ended up with fever when it had gotten infected. He hadn’t had a purification tablet, and no medical supplies, and no proper survival training.

 

That had changed when he returned to base, but the lesson had been already been learnt.

 

 

Vader regarded the young man; of course the child had little experience with such things, being from the desert as he was. While in the past nearly year or so the rebels had been sending him on various missions, but he did not have the hard earned knowledge of time. He gestured to the rock face, “The water, likely from a larger body up ahead, travels downhill through the ground seeking its own level; this filters out any chemical contaminants, likely organisms and organic matter, and it emerges from the rock crevices in a clean and usable state.” Vader held up his hand once again.

 

“That makes sense I suppose.”

 

Passing the canteen into the huge proffered hand, Luke watched as Vader held it to the rock and collected the water. Once relatively full, Vader turned to Luke and handed back the canteen. “Wash and dress those, then we may continue our search.”

 

Taking off his shirt gingerly, careful not to touch the scrapped raw skin of his arms and the large bruise on his side, he shivered slightly. “Yeah, the air is definitely getting cooler.” He winced as he poured the ground-cool water on the hot wounds, not noticing Vader staring intently at him or the churn of emotions perceptible in the Force as though through a glass wall. “How are we getting out of here anyway?”

 

Vader shifted and reached for the comlink always present on his belt and activated it, attempting to make connect with his flagship still lingering somewhere off planet. “Admiral Piett will send a shuttle to collect us once it has become apparent the mission did not go as planned. I had the Executor remain outside of scanner range so as not to alert your group to our presence, and the distress beacon in my fighter was damaged, so it may be a while before it becomes apparent there was an attack.”

 

“Yeah, I didn’t think my luck would suddenly turn around, “Luke sighed.

 

Once Luke washed his wounds and used the ragged sleeves of his shirt to wrap them, the canteen was filled with fresh drinking water and the mismatched pair headed up the hillside to continue their search for shelter.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

(EDITED BECAUSE HOW DO AO3 NOTES WORK OMG)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Here have 2 notes because I don't know how to get rid of the first one....)
> 
> Well! That's a second thing! I spat this out in 10 hours. I cannot feel my buttcheeks. Also, I again apologize if this seems a bit disjointed, I re-worked it as best I could.  
> ALSOALSO! I need a name for a made up bird animal thing! I could just use a generator, which I will if no one comes up with one. But I need like a scientific name and commonplace name. Or I could just call them 'birds' but that's a bit boring.  
> OK! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!


	3. Colours and Insight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke is introspective and Father and Son finally see some feathers.

** Chapter 3 **

Colours and Insight

 

 

“Ugh, I’m beat and I bet we aren’t even halfway up yet.” Luke looked exhaustedly back down the way they had come as he picked at the sweaty undershirt sticking to his torso, “Why are we even climbing up here anyway?” His legs were beginning to feel a little unsteady, to say nothing of the throbbing in his side, after more than an hour or so of picking their way up the side of what had to be a mountain whilst avoiding boulders and climbing over fallen trees. Luke looked in envy over at his Fa- at Vader from where he sat on a fallen log of some sort, wondering if he was hot at all in that suit, though previous experience on Vrogas Vas suggested not.

 

Vader turned to observe Luke, hands resting on his belt, “Any arriving shuttle will be unable to land with so much terrain interference; the clearing at the top will provide ample space for a landing.” He withdrew the small comlink from his belt and once again attempted to contact the _Executor_ to no avail, “The landscape itself may be interfering with my connection to the bridge, or else the planets magnetic fields may be warping the transmission signals. Our best option is to reach high, clear ground in either case for any attempt of rescue.”

 

“Makes sense, but how do you know there’s a clearing up there? You have a topographic layout?”

 

“No, simply experience from many such situations,” Vader paused and gave Luke a little prompting nudge along their bond, “Can you not sense the gathered presences in the Force up ahead? The source of the streams water is almost certainly at the top, where the creatures likely have made a home.”

 

“Yeah, I thought I could feel something, but didn’t really think much of it, just more animals. I guess you really have been just about everywhere haven’t you, in the Clone Wars and after.”

 

Vader’s faint not-quite-amusement could be felt along the bond that Luke hadn’t even bothered to try and keep closed down. “Not quite young one, the galaxy is very large, and **you** ,” Vader’s finger rose into prime accusatory position again, “may have been inadequately trained but that is no excuse for poor survival skills and a woeful lack of awareness. You need to start making a habit of paying attention to your surroundings, little Jedi.”

 

Luke didn’t like the scolding tone at all. “Now look, I’ve kept myself alive so far! Just because I let my guard down a bit doesn’t mean I’m a useless sitting Womp rat. I’ve seen no sign of any predators here; all the creatures are relatively harmless. And as for you, I know you don’t like my refusal to join you and the Emperor, but I also I know you don’t want to outright kill me, or even hurt me at the moment.” Luke had sensed nothing hostile about the other man ever since they had both crashed on the planet, and what little Vader let through his shields, consciously or no, was harmless; amusement and annoyance, and a sort of calm blankness that Luke didn’t really have a word for. There had been nothing in the way of hostility towards Luke, as he had sensed at the end of their duel on Bespin.

 

Vader let out a grunt at the young rebel’s justifications, conceding the fact that perhaps Luke wasn’t as unobservant as he had first thought. The boy spoke truth about Vader’s own intentions, or some of them at any rate, and had managed to avoid **him** time and again despite Vader’s best efforts to capture the young rebel.

 

Infuriating child.

 

A static sigh warbled its way through the vocoder, “Come. We continue. We must reach the top and find ample shelter for the night. The winds and water will likely wash loose debris down the sides of the mountain, leaving this area a poor choice for cover once the storm begins.” Vader turned and began walking up the incline once again at a steady unhindered pace.

 

Luke gave a mock salute and gingerly stood up once more, willing his aching body to cooperate with him for just a bit longer.

 

As the mismatched pair trekked on with nothing but the ambient sounds of the planet’s life between them, Luke’s mind wandered to the man in front of him, to the man who was his Father. It still seemed a bit surreal to Luke that the Emperor’s right hand and murderer, the dreaded fist of the Empire, was the great Anakin Skywalker, hero of the Clone Wars and famed Jedi Knight. Earlier, in the middle of a crisis situation, Luke hadn’t thought twice about addressing him as Father, it had just come out naturally. Since then however, he had made a point to avoid the title. Luke supposed he still felt guilty of the fact somehow, as though he was lying to his friends, betraying them in some way by withholding the information of his parentage. And despite this fact, despite having both of his mentors warn him of the man and even suggesting that he might have to kill Vader, his own flesh and blood…

 

Luke couldn’t help but feel an insistent desire to learn more about him, to try and understand why he had fallen so far, mired himself in the Dark Side and served under a cruel Master. Vader’s trap on Bespin had been horrible, his friends tormented and ending with the Sith maiming Luke, but Vader truly hadn’t wanted to kill him; if he had, Luke would be very dead right now. When Luke focused on that fact, on the evidence that Vader, his Father, truly meant Luke no conscious harm, the Force practically twinkled with light and rightness, truth ringing clear and harmonic inside him.

 

Luke supposed that, especially given the current precarious situation and his physical condition, he was just going to need to have some faith in the Force, and in what was left of Anakin Skywalker down in the depths of Darth Vader. What happened until they left this planet would happen, and once rescue came, Luke would deal with the threat the Emperor and his Empire posed; he would **not** turn to the Dark Side.

 

Perhaps sensing the fevered turn the young rebel’s thoughts had taken, his Father turned his helm slightly; not nearly enough for Vader to see past the flared deflectors, but enough so Luke would notice. He felt a sort of heavy questioning tap against his mind, likely meant to be gentle, before Luke focused his mind as Yoda had shown him and raised his rudimentary shields. He was going to have to start working on his shielding more frequently.

 

“Sorry, you probably felt all that I guess. I’m just distracted – Father.” Not quite a pause, but slight hitch in speech, and Luke was a little surprised at how right the word felt when he tested it out.

 

Vader was too, Force signature sparking briefly before his shields solidly shut out any feedback as well, and he turned his scuffed helm back to his path through the unsuspecting foliage ahead of them.

 

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Eventually Luke and Vader make it up the hill to a sort of elevated lagoon overlooking the outlying forested terrain. It was beautiful, even with the ever-increasing cloud cover the sunlight still managed to shine through intermittently and sparkle greyly on the gentle water of the lake. The whole site definitely appeared to have once been a crater of some sort, what would once have been high crested edges now eroded down to form the gentle basin. On many of the trees surrounding the open lake Luke noticed odd descending spiral patterns that seemed to have been carved into their bark, some healed over into bulbous shapes and others that looked freshly cut around the circumference from top to bottom.

 

As the two stood for a moment at the perimeter of the treeline, ghastly sounds could be heard coming from a brightly coloured group of animals further down the bank in the shallows near the water’s edge. On closer inspection they seemed to be a sort of long-legged species of bird, their feathers shining iridescently in the greying light, some orange-green and others blue-purple.

 

“Wizard! This is so neat! But how did all this water even _get_ here? It can’t have all just been from the rain could it?” Luke knew that a downpour could leave a lot of water, but he didn’t know if it could accumulate into something like this.

 

Although Vader’s mind had at first darkly begrudged Luke’s familiar innocent  wide-eyed fascination with this planet, as part of him envied anyone able to feel such unburdened pleasure, after some time alone with the child his Light almost seemed to be tainting Vader’s Dark hateful cloud that he relentlessly held close. Despite all logic, Vader found himself ruminating on the pointless notion of how a body of water such as this may have formed even though it served no tactical purpose, if only to answer Luke’s burning curiosity he could sense in the Force.

 

“…I do not know, young one. Perhaps it was once a volcano, long since dormant and eroded, thus allowing such life and water to exist here, possibly with a link to a subterranean water reservoir. Or it could have been a comet which created the land deformity and deposited the ice to then thaw and form the lake centuries ago.” Vader inclined his helm towards the flamboyant birds flocked in the shallows, “Either way, these creatures certainly seem to have benefitted from the outcome of whatever event led to its creation.”

 

Luke took a few cautious steps along the edge of the water, trying to get a closer look at the vibrant tall birds while being careful not to startle them; they likely hadn’t encountered intelligent life before so he doubted they would react with any sort of panic, despite those vicious looking beaks. Maybe they were what had left those neat markings on the trees?

 

As Luke was inching his way closer to get a better look at those shining feathers, the screaming calls of the birds seemed to peter down, until the lake was eerily silent save for the occasional rustling of trees and splash of water on rock. Suddenly, all of the  orange and green ones raised their heads up, beaks pointing haughtily up to the sky, and began strutting around at a swift pace, turning their heads this way and that. There seemed to be roughly 30 of them, all marching in one large group along the shallows in a wide circuit around the bluish-purple ones sitting idly watching.

 

Luke felt an uncontrollable hilarity bubble up within, and was soon laughing helplessly at the spectacle as he sank boneless to the rocky shore, howling so hard his side and cheeks hurt in turn. He distantly realized he had spooked his father judging from the sharp spark in the Force, but hadn’t the willpower to stop the laughter.

 

Vader, arm spasming violently at having reflexively clenched his fists at the outburst from the young rebel, looked blankly down at his absurd offspring rolling around on the dirty and wet ground. His cars tugged as he winced slightly at Luke’s utter **glee** crashing into him, its brightness burning him in the Force The Dark Lord  drew his shields and shroud up tighter around himself and slowly came up to the prone form, giving  it a firm nudge with his armoured boot.

 

“Young one.”

 

“GA-HAHAHAAAA! LOOK AT THE-HE-HEEEEEM!” Luke could barely form the words around the raucous laughter coming out of him.

 

Vader frowned down at the young man rolling around on the dirty wet ground, and after a moment crossed his arms and looked over at the flamboyant birds. “They look like a Core-worlder at a gala wanting another drink and wondering where their servant has gone off to, only it’s roughly 30 of them.” Vader felt his stressed scars tug again as his face tightened with consternation at the unholy sound that emitted from the child.

 

“I KNOW RIGH-HE-HE-T?” Luke’s mirth seemed to slowly release him from its grasp and he carefully sat up holding his side, though still giggling like a loon. He looked up at Vader still smiling, “Great minds think alike, right?”

 

Still being assailed with Luke’s Light, Vader merely grunted and looked down on him, arms still crossed. “There is still a storm coming, and you need shelter and sustenance.”

 

Luke waved off the other man’s words and focused on the flamboyant birds still marching out in the shallows. “What do you think they’re doing though? It’s definitely **not** hunting behaviour, and they don’t look distressed so it can’t be from us. I don’t get it.”

 

Vader snorted a little at Luke’s musings, straining the respirator with the off-timed breath, and figured it better to satisfy the curiosity outright than to deal with it simmering into trouble of the Skywalker sort some time later. “It is likely a mating ritual of some kind as are common among many avian species galaxy wide; that is all. Now come.” He took an insistent step closer to the boy who had made no move to get up, his cloak flaring briefly at his sides in what the Sith knew to be an imposing look.

 

Luke pondered the thought, and couldn’t make it match up to what he knew from Tattooine, where precious life was spread out thin in the dangerous and unforgiving desert. Out there, where resources were practically non-existent, rivals often fought to the death over territory, mates and ultimately the right to pass on their genetics. The mating season of the Krayt Dragons was a particularly dangerous time to be caught out in the Wastes unarmed, the great beasts especially violent in the throes of their urges. Womp rats roaming around with missing patches of fur and sporting wounds were rather seasonal as well, whilst the Anooba seemed the least aggressive at mating time, the pack hierarchy seeing to most mating rights off the bat.

 

 Only the strong survived; or in other cases it was a mad dash to actually **find** a mate in the empty wastes, which lead to lack of selection and thus eager acceptance of any member of the same species. Surely only a world with such an abundance of resources could allow for such frivolous use of precious water and unnecessary displays; _dancing_ of all things to decide ideal mates.

 

“That seems a bit silly really,” Luke said as he shook his head and carefully made to stand up. As he did, his side gave a particularly strong pang causing him to freeze up with one leg to the side and his arm held tight to the aching torn muscle as if to protect it. He would have over-balanced if not for the looming dark Lord shooting out an arm to grasp at Luke’s standard issue undershirt, gently pulling him up to his feet.

 

Eyes squeezed shut against the burning ache, he felt rather than saw the large hand paw carefully at his ribs, searching for any obvious wound. Upon finding none, Luke felt a cold chill wrap itself softly around his torso, almost supporting him but without applying pressure to the wrong places. As the pain abated enough for him to open his eyes, Luke looked up gratefully at the huge armoured figure.

 

“Ok, I give. Let’s find someplace to rest, yeah?”

 

Vader just shook his head at the boy, giving another one of those ever increasing bursts of static that passed for a sigh, “Yes young one. Shelter, food, and then rest. Come.” Vader let go of Luke’s shirt in favor of resting it on his lower back, gently encouraging him towards the bank opposite the loud creatures.

 

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HUGE THANK YOU to @warrior-of-symbolica for the ideas for the birds! Their name and info will come up later properly, don’t worry my dude! You had so many cool ideas I’m not just gonna throw them out J

If you’ve never seen a flamingo march go look it up on Youtube to see what I was trying to get across, it’s honestly the Most Hilarious.

I didn’t really want to just cut it off here but this chapter gave me more difficulty than I had anticipated, plus work and real life have been super stressing lately so I wanted to throw this out here and have it off my chest so to speak.

Again, the usual, it’s only looked at by me and I write before I go to sleep when im tired so im betting there’s mistakes galore; apologies.

ALSO I HAVE NO FRICKING CLUE HOW THE CHAPTER NOTES WORK SO THERE’S LIKE PERPETUALLY 2 OF THEM or maybe it looks proper on your end? IDK

**Author's Note:**

> Well. That’s a thing.
> 
> Now, I haven’t written anything since high-school, when I would desperately try to stay sane by scribbling on sheets of loose-leaf. I don’t remember a lick of English class, with sentence structures and fragments and paragraphs. I DID however do a tiny bit of digging on Wookie for some things.
> 
> The characters will seem OOC I’m sure because what even is characterization am I right aha ha ha ha…
> 
> Also, I meant to write this ages ago. I had the idea, literally like just a thought. Then decided I might try my hand a writing it. Well, my stupid brain hasn’t wanted to co-operate. STILL doesn’t. So I have no idea when another chapter may be up, or when this is ending or…yeah. I also apologize for being apologetic, I know that gets old quickly but again, first time lol. (Ok I’ll shut up now)
> 
> SO! Any sort of input is welcome/desperately needed, if anyone even ever reads this.


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